DePaul Prep Falls to St. Patrick 1-0 in 3A Sectional Final

The DePaul Prep Rams varsity baseball team lost 1-0 to area nemesis to the St. Patrick Shamrocks at Kerry Wood Cubs Park.

The Rams opened the season 14-0 and finished 25-13. The Rams finished the season in the 3A sectional final losing to their former coach Chris Haas, the the Shamrocks’ skipper.

St. Patrick senior right hander Paddy Roth, a Michigan State commit, shut out the Rams working his way out of a couple jams.

It was a fun season. This group of Rams were always loose and having fun. My favorite kind of baseball.

It guess it’s football season now. (Except I have another group of baseball photos to post from the Northside game.)

DePaul Prep Falls to St. Ignatius 3-0 in 2A Sectional Final

[A preview of this week’s story in the Inside—Booster.]

By Jack Lydon

DePaul Prep Rams fell to the St. Ignatius Wolfpack 3-0 in the IHSA girls soccer sectional final on Friday evening at DePaul Prep. Wolfpack’s junior wing, Lauren Reed scored two goals, two minutes apart early in the first half giving the Wolfpack an commanding lead against conference rival DePaul Prep. Try as they did, the Rams (16-9-1, 5-2-1) just couldn’t put together a comeback against the stingy St. Ignatius defense.

“I was really thinking about winning this for my team and playing for my seniors. Then I guess I got really lucky on those two shots. But when I saw the opportunity take it, I did,” said River Forest resident, Lauren Reed.

Coming into the game, the Wolfpack (11-9-3, 3-3-2) focused on getting the ball into their center forward, junior Kayla Washington and so much on Reed.

“Kayla is our lead scorer. She's got like twenty-eight goals. Kayla is a classic striker. When you play with only one person up front, she has to be a big, strong capable player who can hold the ball up and wait for support,” St. Ignatius head coach Pam Whitehead said of Washington.

“Usually our goal is to get it to Kayla. I usually come up as back up. We kind of work together, but the main focus is to get it to Kayla,” Lauren Reed said of her teammate Washington.

“So I was lucky,” Reed added. She said “luck,” but two goals and two minutes is more than just luck. Reed was there to capitalize on the attention paid to Washington and that she did.

“Lauren is amazing because, first of all, she never came out of the game and absolutely she is positioned where she has to run up and down constantly,” Whitehead said of Reed, who is also a talented field hockey player. “And she is a third leading scorer [with 13 goals].” Lili Garcia is the Wolfpack’s second leading scorer with 17 goals.

DePaul Prep and St. Ignatius are both members of the Girls Catholic Athletic Conference and played each other on May 1st which ended in a 1-1 draw.

“It was our senior night. All of our seniors played. And you'll notice the [Senior Night] shirt that I wore tonight to remind them,” Whitehead said of the tie game.

Proud of her team’s rebound from the last match, Whitehead added, “It's just good combination play on the ground. I don't know if you noticed the tactical difference with DePaul. They like to send the long balls in, but we like to play between three of our key players up front with angle runs and drop balls; Good classic soccer.”

St. Ignatius managed to hold the Rams’ leading scorer junior Lucia Troutman scoreless despite early success by the Rams in pushing to the ball forward to Troutman.

DePaul Prep head coach and chair of the DePaul Prep Science Department, Kelly Keckler, was obviously disappointed after the game.

“Iggy was scouting [our last game against DeLaSalle]. They saw a lot of who we've become this season. The team that we were when we played them the first time is very different team than what we are now. . . We've figured out a lot of new tactics. We've been stronger and faster on the ball. We've been playing a lot of tougher competition throughout the whole season to gear up for this moment,” Keckler said after the game.

“No way would I've ever guessed it would be three zero. I think [Ignatius] brought their game winning boots today. It's as simple as that. We played almost same game as we played the first time we played them. I think it just came down to grit at the end of the day.”

St. Ignatius moves on to play Crystal Lake Central in the 2A super sectional on Tuesday. 

DePaul Prep Baseball Senior Night v. Prospect

This is a special group. I might write that every year but this really is a special group. I have never seen a baseball team having so much fun. Even when they were like 22-0 or something, they were loose and having fun. Still loose, still having fun. That’s what baseball is—fun. It’s in the moment. This group gets it.

I have been neglecting the website in recent weeks. The last post before today was May 3. I have actually been shooting and writing stories but the stories and photos haven’t made it to the website. I don’t know exactly what is up with that. Just a lot going on I guess. I will have to get my priorities straightened out.

I hope you like the photos.

Lane Tech Falls to Kenwood 10-9 in City Championship

[Preview of this week’s story in Inside—Booster.]

By Jack Lydon

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS—The Lane Tech Champions fell to the Kenwood Broncos 10-9 in the Chicago Public League’s city baseball championship on Thursday evening. The Champions dug themselves quite a whole giving up six runs in the top of the first but fought all the way back tying the game in the bottom of the sixth. The miracle comeback was to be. Kenwood’s junior righthander Josiah Patterson slammed the door in the bottom of the seventh. The Broncos are City champs for 2025.

The Broncos came out swinging in the first inning. A single, a hit batsman, another single, still another single, and another and another. Five hits to open the game before the first out was recorded. Champions’ sophomore pitcher Charlie Lust struggled giving up six earned runs on six hits and only recording one out before leaving the game. Junior pitcher Alex Delaney entered the game and walked his first batter. The next batter reached on an error before a merciful double play but an end to the carnage. Champions were down 6-0 before taking a swing.

Strangely, for those who had seen the Champions play this year and for the Champions themselves, everyone knew the game was not over. They can score but would they score enough?

“I expected us to be a little shaky to start, but I hoped we settle into the game a little quicker and we didn't do that,” said Lane Tech manager Sean Freeman.

“But I am super proud of our kids, a lot of kids and teams would have folded under those circumstances and we absolutely did not. We fought our way all the way back and had a chance to wait at the end. So I'm super proud of their effort. While it sucks to lose, it only make us better going forward.”

Fought back they did. One in the bottom of the first, second and third and then two more in the top of the fourth. Except they gave up two runs to Kenwood in the top of the second and another in the top of the fourth.

It was 9-5 with time running out as the Champions came up to bat in the bottom of the sixth. Teo Greco singled, Henry Murray singled. Jacob DeVinney walked. Conor Sullivan singled scoring Greco and Murray. 9-7. After a strike out, sophomore Miles Mazanowski, who struggled at the plate earlier in the game, battled from behind in the count, and laced a single to left scoring two runs to tie the game.

“Miles is a sophomore. It's his first time on varsity. He showed a lot of maturity. He was down 0-2 or 1-2, and he came up with a huge swing. So that says a lot about him in his future. Although he's huge, he's only fifteen, he doesn't turn sixteen till next like October,” Freeman said of Mazanowski.

One must credit the Kenwood Broncos for hanging touch and staying in the game after the long comeback of Lane. The Broncos quickly rallied. The first batter in the top of the seventh, Jimmy Downs crushed a double to deep center field over the head of Nathan Wong. Downs later scored on a clutch two out by senior Brandon Stinson to give the Broncos a 10-9 leading going into the final inning.

“It was very nerve racking,” Kenwood junior right hander Josiah Patterson said of coming back out to pitch in the bottom of the seventh.

Showing a maturity and focus well beyond his years, Patterson held the Champions. “It was just the energy for my team. They picked me up. My mindset just changed. I just hit the spots,” Patterson said.

St. Ignatius Players in First Game Against DePaul Prep

A St. Ignatius player reached out and asked about my photos of the St. Ignatius players. I didn’t originally process and post these for want of time.

DePaul Prep Slugs St. Ignatius 10-3

[a preview of next week’s Inside—Booster article.]

By Jack Lydon

Chicago, Illinois—It was a game of big hits. DePaul Prep’s junior right fielder Quinn Roberts put two into the parking lot east of Kerry Wood Cubs Field. The Rams had a total six extra base hits and dropped the St. Ignatius Wolfpack 10-3 Thursday evening. St. Ignatius’ Cam Andrews also put one over the left field fence for two runs in the top of the sixth.

The dimensions are just a little shorter than Wrigley Field at Kerry Wood Cubs Field. 363 feet in the outfield gaps and 327 down the lines.

“That's my first two home run game ever actually. That’s a good milestone right there. It's pretty fun hitting them at Kerry Wood. It's pretty deep out there,” said Roberts, who ended the game with two home runs, two walks and three runs batted in.

“So that second one of the game was my fourth of the year actually. I hit one at Providence two days ago. I just try and do my best. I try to swing hard enough, but not too hard to where it makes the coach totally angry. I just try to put them in play and see what happens from there.” Roberts ended the game with two home runs, two walks and three runs batted in.

“Quinn is gonna be great. He's playing well. He had to kick in last year as a sophomore when we got hurt. We're really experienced, even the juniors, even the younger guys. They’re experienced. They had to dig and fight in these Catholic League Blue games last year. So they know what this is about and I think it shows,” said Sam Colon, DePaul Prep’s manager, a 2014 graduate of Gordon Tech. Colon took over as head baseball coach for DePaul Prep from legendary Gordon and DePaul Prep coach Chris Haas in 2023. Colon took the Rams to the 2A State Finals in his first year at the helm and a super-sectional game last year.

Although the game ended 10-3, it started a little rough for DePaul Prep’s senior lefthander Owen Rog. Rog walked the first three batters of the game. Not to worry. He struck out the Wolfpack’s Jaiden Ponce swinging and the next hitter Ben Marasovich dutifully bounced into a 6-4-3 double play to end the innings and get Rog out of the jam.

Even with all the extra base hits, it was defense and solid pitching that secured the Rams first Chicago Catholic League Blue Division win of the season. Despite the gaudy 19-4 season record for the Rams, all four of their losses this season have come to CCL Blue rivals Brother Rice and Providence Catholic. The Catholic League is loaded with excellent baseball teams this year. Brother Rice and St. Laurence are the first and fourth ranked teams in the state by Max Preps.

The Rams turned three double plays in the game. In addition to the one in the first inning, first baseman Dylan Hecht fielded a sharp ground ball right to him, through it to shortstop Vance Kurokawa at second to fired it back to Hecht for the bang-bang 3-6-3 inning ending double play in the third.

In the top of the fifth, with a man on first, Rams’ third baseman Charles “Chuck” Pribyl fielded a ground ball, throw to second baseman Beni Espinosa who fired it down to Hecht at first for the third double play of the game.

Owen Rog pitched three innings giving up three hits and one run on four walks and three strikeouts. He was relieved by Gavin Glibowski in the fourth who finished the game giving up four hits and two runs on the aforementioned homerun by Cam Andrews. Glibowski did not walk anyone and struck out six.

The Rams continue with their difficult Catholic League schedule with another game against St. Ignatius, then IC Catholic and Mount Carmel in coming days.

Lane Tech Defeats Payton 8-3

[Preview of this week’s story in Inside—Booster.]

By Jack Lydon

The Lane Tech Champions handled the Payton Grizzlies Friday evening 8-3 at Kerry Wood Cubs Field. It was the second time the Champions defeated the Grizzlies last week. The first being Tuesday’s 11-1 win also at Kerry Wood. Freshman righthander Dodger Friedrich was on the mound for the Champions demonstrating a remarkable command of the strike-zone and considerable toughness to work himself through some rough spots.

“I thought he did a great job,” said Lane Tech’s head coach Sean Freeman of his freshman pitcher. Friedrich tossed a seven-inning complete game win giving up three earned runs on five hits, five strike-outs and only one walk. Friedrich had only ninety-one pitches of which seventy were strikes. The fourteen-year-old Friedrich improved his record to 2-1 on the season.

“Obviously, he's got good stuff for his age, but he also throws a lot of strikes. He competes well.  The pitch count was pretty low. He didn't want to come out. So I figured let's see what he is made up and see if you can finish it,” said Freeman.

The Champions helped their freshman hurler by jumping out to an early lead 2-0 lead with two runs on two hits in the top of the first before Friedrich even took the field.

In the top of the second with two out and the bases loaded, Champions’ junior catcher Jacob DeVinney crushed a bases loaded double over the left fielder’s head and off the wall to score three runs giving the Champions a five-run lead early. It would be all their young pitcher would need.

Champions’ second baseman senior Tyler Trapp was three for five with two strike-outs and scored a run improving his team leading batting average to 0.436 and an amazing 0.581 on base percentage. DeVinney had two hits. Alex Ziegler went two for four and scored a run. Zolan Whatt also when two for four and scored two runs. Max Hinojosa when two for four, scored a run and had a run-batted-in.

Friedrich worked himself out of a little trouble in the bottom of the second. Payton’s lead-off hitter junior Nick Linares singled past Lane’s Miles Mazanowski. Friedrich then hit the next batter, Payton’s senior pitcher Nathan Volkens making it first and second with nobody out. Junior Sam Merrill’s sacrifice bunt moved up the runners. Friedrich then struck out Payton’s John Seward looking. Payton’s senior outfielder Augie Rug then singled scoring the two runs. Friedrich got the next batter to end the innings and would finish the game giving up long five hits, on one walk and five strike outs.

The Champions improve their overall record to 11-6. The record is better than it looks. The Champions have only two in-state losses and those in tight games to top teams Mount Carmel and Glenbrook North. The Champions lost four games early in the season against very good out-of-state teams on a trip to a tournament in Alabama over Spring Break.

Lane continues to roll through the Chicago Public League’s Jackie Robinson North Division with a 6-0 record. So far beating Von Stueben twice, Whitney Young twice and Payton twice. Taft, Amundsen, Ogden International and Lincoln Park are still to come.  

Lane Tech Defeats Payton 11-1

My hands were so cold that I really could not work my phone and the cameras fast enough to do a good job reporting on the game. I just hadn’t planned ahead well enough to deal with the cold. So this is not a proper report on the Lane Tech’s 11-1 shellacking of Payton at Kerry Wood in five innings this afternoon.

The Champions are solid in every phase. Junior right-hander Ronan Owens pitched very well. He had nine strikeouts with one run on five hits and four walks. The defense was excellent. The Champions had 11 runs on 11 hits and 6 walks.

The Champions 10-6 records deceives the casual fan. Their losses were early in the season to very good Southern teams, and Mount Carmel. They are 5-0 in the CPL so far including two wins over Whitney Young.

There are plenty of games to go and good teams on the schedule. But Lane looks really good. Keep an eye on them. I will.

DePaul Prep Beats Leo and Improves to 13-0.

[Preview of next week’s piece in the Inside—Booster.]

By Jack Lydon

DePaul Prep is on a roll. “The boys are just humming right now. 13-0. The guys are putting good games together. Good practices. It's all coming together,” said Charlie “Chuck” Pribyl, DePaul Prep senior third baseman after the Rams 10-0 victory over Leo at Kroc Field on the far Southside.

And it came on a combined no-hitter by five DePaul Prep pitchers, Owen Rog, Garen Gutzmer, Noah Liss, Gavin Variano and Connor Egan. This is the best start to a varsity baseball season in the 11 years of DePaul Prep and is also believed to be the best start to any season in the Gordon Tech era as well.

There has also plenty of offense to go with solid pitching for the Rams on this historic streak. Pribyl lead off the scoring for the Rams in the top of the second with a two-run homerun to right center. It was the second two-run homerun for Pribyl in as many games. Chuck had a two-run walkoff homerun in Monday’s extra-inning 7-5 win over Amundsen at Kerry Wood Field.

“I think we just have a lot of fun right now. We know each other very well. So I think it’s coming together. It’s just flowing nicely right now,” Pribyl continued.

Freshman Nolan Hecht followed up Pribyl’s shot with a towering two-run homerun to right field of his own in the top of the fourth giving the Rams a 7-0 lead and putting the game out of reach.

Of the gaudy 13-0 start to the season, DePaul Prep head baseball coach and assistant athletic director Sam Colon put on a huge grin saying, “I don't really have any words to describe it. It's a really fun group.”

“These guys have put in a ton of work to prepare themselves for the season. I think a lot of the hard work is definitely showing now. It's high school baseball. We're gonna catch a loss at some point. So I think it's a little special group. It's fun.”

This historic start for the Rams is just that—a start. The Rams now head into the meat of their schedule with upcoming games against Chicago Catholic League Blue Division rivals including perennial powerhouse teams, Brother Rice, Mount Carmel, Loyola and Providence Catholic, not to mention St. Rita, St. Laurence and DeLaSalle.

“It doesn't worry me. We’re well prepared, well coached and I think we can attack anything that comes our way,” Pribyl said of the approaching tough stretch in the schedule.

Skipper Colon was a little more circumspect when it came to the 13-0 record and upcoming conference play. “It's ok. [The players] know. We talk about it as a team. None of this matters unless you're the last one standing at the end. These wins are great and all but come [the playoffs] is when we want to rattle off seven in a row. That’s what matters most.”

The sports programs at DePaul Prep has achieved remarkable success after its transformation from Gordon Tech in 2014. The basketball team has won three straight state championships in basketball. The football team won a state championship in the fall. The girls’ volleyball team took fourth in the state in the fall. As a well as the state finals appearances of boys’ and girls’ cross country teams in the last couple years.

“It's a testament to the coaches and the kids and everybody. It takes a village to have continued success this way across the board. Our school community, our strength room and Coach [Alex] Nadolna,” Sam Colon said of the school’s successes in athletics of late.

“I have learned something different every time I go along on the ride [to a state tournament]. I've definitely taken a little bit from Coach Baum. I've taking a little bit from Coach [Passarella]. I've taken a little bit from the Coach Gajzler. How can we implement it? Obviously, they have had success. We've had success. How can we continue to find success in different ways and continue to evolve. So it's been fun. It's been fun to learn.

Dyett Wins 2A State Championship with 52-41 win over Althoff Catholic

My photos from the 2A state championship game between CPS powerhouse Dyett and Althoff Catholic from Belleville. Chicago Area teams won all for IHSA classifications: Chicago Hope Academy in 1A, Dyett in 2A, DePaul Prep in 3A and Benet Academy in 4A. Dyett was the only public school to win a state championship.

DePaul Prep Wins Third Straight State Championship

[preview of my Inside—Booster story for this week.]

By Jack Lydon

CHAMPAIGN, IL—The toughness and heart of DePaul Prep cannot be overstated. Down by nine with under six minutes to play, the Rams rallied to defeat Brother Rice 55-52 in double overtime to win their third straight state championship. This was a heavy weight boxing match between fighters that know each other well.

The game was practically a mirror image of their first meeting in January when the Brother Rice Crusaders (31-6) defeated DePaul Prep 53-52 after grabbing an early lead. The Crusaders survived a late comeback by the Rams, but just barely.

That would not happen again. With the weight of two state champions pressing down and behind 33-24 with 5:42 to play, the Rams had to dig deep. Senior leader Makai Kvamme, a veteran of the two preceding state championships, stepped up big time.

Makai was struggling. He had not scored in the game to that point. Despite getting good looks, his shots were just not falling.

At 5:42, Makai get a layup, his first points of the game. He would score 9 more in the fourth. It wasn’t just Kvamme. Porter had a bucket. With the Rams trailing 40-37 and 43 seconds on the clock, Junior guard and transfer into DePaul Rykan Woo, who was not on the prior championship teams, surely had the biggest free throw shots of his life. He made the first. He made the second. He made the third. Scored tied, going to overtime.

It would take two overtimes but the Rams would close out the win with big buckets by AJ Chambers, Rob Walls, Rashaun Porter and five more from Kvamme in the second overtime.

“That was a fist fight of heavy weights. All great whistles. They let us play. Points were at a premium. Things got loose a little in the second half,” said Rams coach Tom Kleinschmit.

“These seniors that are up here have been on the varsity for three years. They are 70 and 5 in two years. The culture was built on the guys before them,” Kleinschmidt added.

“We knew that we had experience. We wanted to use that experience to the best of our ability. We stayed poised, stayed relaxed and started pressuring them to make them turn it over. We got that result,” said junior center Rashaun Porter.

“When we took the program over [in 2013], we had two goals: win the [Chicago Catholic] League and win the state championship. We hadn’t won a league game in five years and people looked at us like ‘ya, whatever.’ We attained one of the goals and won the League. Now we’ve won a championship,” said Kleinschmidt.

It’s three championships now actually. The Rams defeated Bloomington Central Catholic 65-41 in 2023 to win 2A. Last year they defeated Chicago Catholic League rival Mount Carmel 49-41 to win their second state championship in a row, that time in 3A. It will have to be said that the DePaul Prep Rams have entered the rarified air of multiple consecutive championships in IHSA history.   

“We are a defensive culture team that can score now. We talked about leaning on our experience. We certainly did that tonight,” concluded Coach Kleinschmidt.

Seventh ranked Brother Rice Crusaders were as tough a team as the Rams faced all year. And the Rams played a tremendously difficult schedule. Brother Rice has put together an impressive string of their own with three consecutive 30-win seasons. It was their first appearance in the State Tournament since 2005.

Chicago Catholic League Lawless Player of the Year, Crusaders senior guard Marcos Gonzales lead all scorers in the game with 24 points. Senior forward K. J. Morris had 11 points for Brother Rice. Senior guard Jack Weigus added 10 points.

It was a total team effort for the Rams, offensively as well as defensively. Kvamme lead the team with 16 points, all coming in the fourth quarter and the overtime periods. Rashaun Porter added 14 despite suffering injured fingers. Rob Walls and Rykan Woo had 7 each. AJ Chambers had 5. Jonas Johnson and Gus Donohue each added a three-pointer. The Rams had 10 steals and only 9 turnovers.

DePaul Prep Advances to Third Straight Title Game

By Jack Lydon

The DePaul Prep Rams (32-4), Chicago Catholic League Champs, defending state champs defeated the Glenwood High School Titans, from Chatham, Illinois, 39-25. The Rams advance to their third straight IHSA title game against Brother Rice at 6:00 p.m. tomorrow.

Please forgive me for not doing a complete story about the game. I shot three games yesterday. I have spend the last 24 hours working on getting the photos right. Photography at this state tournament level shooting demands a lot of attention. There is good light and a lot at stake so I need to concentrate on that.

Going into the Finals I planned to concentrate on blog posting. It didn’t work out that way. I largely neglected the writing and blog posting even though I planned to do more of that. It just didn’t work out. I found that I basically can’t do both. It’s time consuming enough to write a proper news story about a game that I shot.

These are my photos from the game.

Some shots I worked up for Mike Clark from the St. Pat's v. Brother Rice Game

Brother Rice defeated the Shamrocks 48-33 and advances to play DePaul Prep in the 3A title game tomorrow at 6:00 p.m., in Champaign.

Dyett Defeat Manuel 56-50 to Advance to 2A Championship Game

I shot the second 2A semi-final between CPS’s Dyett Eagles and the Peoria Manuel Rams. Dyett played well and defeated Peoria Manuel 56-50 to advance to play the impressive Belleville Althoff Catholic team in the 2A state final.

Chicago's Christ the King Takes on Althoff Catholic in 2A Semi

By Jack Lydon

The Christ the King (26-9)) getting ready take on Althoff Catholic (Belleville) (30-5) in the IHSA 2A Semi-final.

Christ the King College Preparatory School is a co-ed Jesuit “Cristo Rey Network” affiliated Catholic school in Chicago’s Westside Austin neighborhood. Christ the King opened in 2008. This is CTK’s first trip to any state The current IHSA enrollment figure is 371. First regional win was 19-20. CTK lost to Latin School in last year’s Sectional Final 43-42.

The Gladiators play a 2A schedule but defeated 4A Waukegan 62-58 in December.

Althoff Catholic from Belleville has an enrollment of 312 (IHSA enrollment is listed as 288) and won the 3A state championship over Lincoln-Way West in 2016. Altholff has a player, senior guard Dierre Hill, who is reputed to be the top high school football player in Illinois. Keep an eye on him, no. 22.

Update:

At half, Althoff Catholic leads Christ the King 30-17. Late second quarter charge by Althoff grabbed a thirteen point lead. Crusaders hit threes and scored in transition. Gladiators turning the ball over.

Blog Posts and DePaul Prep's 3A Semi-final Opponent Glenwood

By Jack Lydon

I think I am finding my voice when it comes to blog posts. The blog on my website usually just contains galleries of photos from games and events I cover with some explanation. I also post my news articles that appear in the Inside—Booster.

Starting tomorrow, I am going to post news related items from the IHSA boys basketball playoffs that the U. of I. State Farm Center in Champaign in more of a first person blog format. I hope to do it in as close to real time as I can for games that I am not photographing. Tomorrow are the 1A, 2A and 3A semi-finals.

We have six Chicago area teams in playing tomorrow: Chicago Hope, Christ the King, Dyett, Brother Rice, DePaul Prep and St. Patrick. So I will post what I can as I watch the games. But I will probably be photographing the 3A games with just the usually Twitter/X score updates.

Here is some stuff DePaul Prep’s opponent, Glenwood. The Rams take on Glenwood in tomorrow’s 3A sem-final starting at 8:15 p.m.

The Glenwood Titan (24-9), with an enrollment listed by the IHSA as 1,466, are from the Central State Eight conference where they finished fourth behind MacArthur (3A in Decatur), Springfield (3A) and Lanphier (3A from Springfield). All of those schools were in the same sectional that the #3 seed Glenwood won.

The Glenwood starters are senior guard Cameron Appenzeller, senior guard Gavin Simmons, junior forward Jack Kurman, senior forward Mason Neumann and senior forward Jonathon Helm.

Glenwood’s leader scorer is Appenzeller followed closely by Helm. Based upon the games played, it looks like their starters get almost all of the playing time with the only bench player getting significant playing time being junior guard Brody Green.

Knowledgeable high school basketball commentator Big Tim Shabazz suggests in his blog that Glenwood’s size could give DePaul Prep some trouble. Check that out at Big Tim’s blog. Click here to read it.

Michael O’Brien reported this afternoon in the “No Shot Clock” podcast that the Glenwood’s Cameron Appenzeller is a 6’5” lefty pitcher who might be a first-round draft pick in the Major League Baseball draft. So that’s something. Must be quite an athlete.

Appenzeller does not show up in the PrepHoops.com rankings of Class 2025 basketball players. I am guessing that is because he probably plays baseball and not club basketball in the off-season, so he is not on that radar.

Chatham (Glenwood) team photo as appears on the IHSA website.

DePaul Prep Going to State Again with 68-28 Win Over Kaneland

By Jack Lydon

“I feel like we came out and we just punched them in the mouth. We weren't trying to let them get going. We knew that they could get hot pretty fast. We wanted to limit their shots . . . We never gave them a chance to get going,” said DePaul Prep senior guard Rob Walls after the game.

Punched them in the mouth is a good way to describe how the DePaul Prep Rams dismantled the Kaneland Knights 68-28 in the 3A Super-sectional game at Hoffman Estates NOW Arena Monday evening.

It was by no means clear before the game started, how Kaneland would contend with competition such as DePaul Prep. Kaneland came into the game was a gaudy 32-1 record running through their competition with impressive wins over DeKalb and Crystal Lake South. But the Knights haven’t played anything like the level of competition that DePaul Prep would bring.

It showed in the first quarter. The Rams opened the game with 12-0 run. Senior forward Gus Donohue added two big three pointers in a row midway throw the first quarter opening an 18-2 advantage. It was 21-3 at the end of the quarter.

“I thought it was good to get the offense going. . . The guards got me the ball, [Kaneland] to help on our good guards and then I had wide open shots. I was happy that I could knock them down,” Donohue said.

The rest of the game was not much different. 43-12 at the half 60-22 after the third. Running clock and subs for both teams in the fourth with a 68-28 final.

DePaul Prep coach Tom Kleinschmidt was complementary of Kaneland.

“Three and five are excellent players. Five [Kaneland senior forward Freddy Hassan] is a thousand-point scorer,” said Kleinschmidt.

“Three [Kaneland’s junior point guard Marshawn Cocroft] is an unbelievable guard, all state last year in 2A. We wanted to make sure they saw a man and a half. I know we're a good defensive of team, but if you play those two guys, one on one, they give people problems. They're thirty-two and one.”

Kaneland is good. They have good players and are well coached. A team can’t go 32-1 without that. It just seemed the Rams were just that much better. Dialed in. Ready and anxious to get back downstate.

Kleinschmidt was a little more forthcoming about the season than he usually is.

“There's a reason we play the schedule we play. We played eight rank teams in like twelve days. We got beat by [Brother] Rice at home by one. The next day within thirteen hours, H-F beat us by one. The kids were really down after that H-F game. I told them when we get down state this weekend, it's gonna be that weekend that got us down state.

“We had Benet at home. I thought it was important to start seniors like Gus and Jonus who helped us build the program. [Benet] took it to us. We gave them another day off and then they have been laser focused at practice and I think that's why. We are rested, we're tested and we’re prepped.

The DePaul Prep Rams have put together such a string of successful seasons that it hardly seems real. They have advanced to the state finals five of the last six years which had state finals, including this year. They won 3A last year and 2A the year before that. In 2022, they finished in third place in 2A. And in 2019, the finished in third place in 3A. Oh, and in the COVID year 2021, they won the non-IHSA Chipotle Tournament ending the season ranked No. 1.

The Rams will face Glenwood High School (24-9, 6-4) from Chatham, Illinois (population 14,525), in Thursday evening’s IHSA 3A semi-final at the University of Illinois’ State Farm Center. The Glenwood Titans finished fourth in the Central State Eight conference behind MacArthur, Springfield and Lanphier.

DePaul Prep Moves Up to #4 and Readies for Super Against Kaneland

The DePaul Prep Rams moved up in the Sun-Times Super 25 today from #6 last week to #4 this week behind #1 Kenwood, #2 Benet and #3 Rich Township. The Rams look to reprise their Super-sectional victory of last year over Crystal Lake South on Monday evening when they face #22 Kaneland High School Knights (32-1, 10-0) at 6:00 p.m., at the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates.

On Friday at 3:30 p.m., immediately before the sectional final games were to start, the IHSA issued a statement announcing that Kaneland had been ruled ineligible to participate in the playoffs going forward because it allowed an ineligible player to play in seven games. The player was not identified. However, after an appeal to the IHSA Board, the penalty was commuted to just making the player ineligible and allowing Kaneland to continue participating in the playoffs.

With their gaudy 32-1 record, the Knights then defeated Crystal Lake South 49-37 earning a spot in Monday’s super-sectional against DePaul Prep.

I confess, I never heard of Kaneland High School until this year. Located in Maple Park, Illinois, population 1,478, Maple Park is along the western board of Kane County about halfway between Elburn and DeKalb. I am told that kids from Elburn, where the Metra West line commuter train ends, attend Kaneland.

Kaneland is easternmost school in the Interstate 8 Conference with such schools as Sycamore, LaSalle-Peru, Rochelle, Morris and Ottawa.

The Kaneland sectional championship win over Crystal Lake South is probably its biggest win of the season. Kaneland’s only loss this season came to McHenry in the second game of the season resulting in a 31-game win streak. Kaneland has not played any ranked teams.

Kaneland also boasts some ranked players. Junior 6’0” point guard Marshall Cocroft has garnered some attention. Prep Hoops has him ranked at the 67th best play in the class of 2026. The Knights’ 6’8” sophomore center Jeffrey Hassan is the seventh ranked player in Prep Hoops’ class of 2027. Jeffrey’s brother senior Freddy Hassan lead the Knights on Friday evening against Crystal Lake South with 21 points and 20 rebounds.

DePaul Prep Rams after their 2024 Super-sectional win over Crystal Lake South at the NOW Arena.

DePaul Prep Wins Antioch Sectional 45-25 Over Deerfield

[Preview of this week’s Inside—Booster article.]

By Jack Lydon

DePaul Prep is rolling. Another dominant playoff win for the Rams. This time a 45-25 win over Deerfield in the 3A Antioch Sectional Final Friday. The DePaul Prep Rams’ success (30-4) is going way past impressive and moving into historic. This is DePaul Prep’s fifth Sectional championship in the last six seasons with playoffs. The four previous sectional wins ended with two third place finishes and two championships.

The Deerfield Warriors came into the game 24-7 fresh off an upset victory over Lake Forest, the number 2 seed in the sectional. They finished second behind 4A Sectional champ Evanston in the Central Suburban South Conference. They have height and shooters.

But the Rams are rolling. In the first couple possessions, it was evident that the ultra-quick ball movement of the Rams to their shooters in the corners was not going to be as open usual. Deerfield was too quick in getting into the faces of the Rams’ shooters.

Okay. Plan B—go  inside to Rashaun Porter.

The Warriors had no answer for that. Rams’ junior center Rashaun Porter opened the game with three dunks and eight of the Rams’ fourteen first quarter points. The Rams completely controlled the first quarter only giving up four points. Deerfield’s outside shots were not falling and the Rams quickly shutdown attempts to drive the lane.

The second quarter was not quite so dominant. Deerfield reeled off a 10-0 run late in the second quarter to make it a five-point game at the half.

 “We got beat on the glass. They had some desperation going. We relaxed. They beat us to the balls. They were more physical than us and they made some shots,” said DePaul Prep head coach Tom Kleinschmidt.

There was no panic. It was like, “okay, let’s just get back to work.”

Work they did. The Rams gave up only seven points in the second half, only two in the third quarter. This was against a Deerfield team that won twenty-four games this year. The Rams were just that dominant.

Kleinschmidt does not take the remarkable success of his teams for granted. “We’re not the Yankees or anything like that. We’re a good program. But people are just coming and expecting regionals and sectionals. We as a coaching staff just sometimes lose our minds because we know how hard it is to win. We don't take this for granted because we were on the other end of this ten years ago.”

Neither do the players. Rams center Porter, who in his first two high school basketball campaigns has won two state championships, was remarkably circumspect, “I'll just take it one step at a time. I just take all the information that soaked in, like being on the bench, to getting in a little bit of minutes, to having a big roll . . . now in big situations we can come together as a team.”

The Rams advance to play in Monday evening’s super-sectional (final eight teams) against Kaneland High School of Maple Park at the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates. Kaneland defeated Crystal Lake South 49-37 in the 3A Rochelle Sectional.   

Kaneland dodges a bullet with the IHSA immediately prior to Friday evening’s game. The IHSA released a statement late Friday afternoon that Kaneland had “allowed an ineligible student-athlete to participate in its last seven boys basketball contests of the season, including a Class 3A Sectional Semifinal win on March 5.”

IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson initially ruled that the school would forfeit those seven contests and would not be allowed to participate in its IHSA Class 3A Sectional Championship game. However, Kaneland appealed, and the IHSA Board of Directors reduced the penalty, allowing Kaneland to continue on in the state playoffs, but without the ineligible player.

DePaul Prep junior guard Rykan Woo was named to the Chicago Sun-Times “All Area” team Friday which recognizes the top players in the Chicago metropolitan area.

DePaul Prep Defeats St. Viator in Antioch 3A Sectional Semi-final

The DePaul Prep Rams (29-4) defeated the St. Viator Lions (24-10) 63-23 in the 3A Antioch Sectional semi-final Tuesday evening.

DePaul’s defense ruled the day. St. Viator was basically limited to perimeter shots in the first half scoring just ten points in the first half. The Rams held St. Viator’s best player, Henry Marshall, an MIT commit, to ten points of the Lions 23 total points.

The Rams move on to play #3 seed Deerfield (24-7) on Friday evening at 6:00 in Antioch. In a mild upset, Deerfield defeated #1 seed Lake Forest 33-31 in the sectional semi last night. Interestingly, St. Viator took Deerfield to overtime but lost to Deerfield 36-32 the day after Christmas. That was a long time ago so I am not sure it means much. Deerfield has no wins over ranked teams.